HARRIS IS ROCKING TRUMP’S WORLD

By C.C. Campbell-Rock

President Trump proclaimed publicly that he wanted Joe Biden to choose California Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate. But pundits with ties to White House insiders said Trump really wanted Biden to pick Congresswoman Karen Bass. Really anyone but Harris. The first public appearance by Biden and Harris shows that Trump has a lot to fear from Biden’s vice-presidential pick. Kamala Harris will make an historic run as the VP candidate.

Harris has a strong legal background. She served as a local DA and AG in California. As a member of Senate committees, Senator Harris left  Trump administration officials speechless under her withering questioning. During her first appearance on the ticket with Joe Biden, Harris judged the Trump administration. She claimed Trump was derelict in handling the coronavirus. “The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut. Just look where they’ve gotten us.”

Harris said Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic is the reason an American dies every 80 seconds from the coronavirus. She said parents are worried if they send their kids to school, they could get sick. But if they keep them home, they’ll fall behind. She also cited increasing unemployment claims and an ensuing economic crash.

Of course, Trump’s response to Biden’s selection of Harris was a mouthful of negative name-calling. He called her a “nasty woman,” “horrible,” “phony” and whatever other vile thing he could think to say. Yet Trump also put a happy spin on her selection. “She was my first draft choice.” Trump claims he is looking forward to the Harris Pence debate.

Trump/Pence vs Biden/Harris

In reality, Trump, Pence, and the GOP have met their match. Harris brings to the table intelligence and a fierce determination to work for the people. When she became San Francisco’s district attorney, she created this service mission. She has a bold, feisty, personality, that is stealthy, steely, and laser-sharp. Harris exhibited these qualities throughout her career as a prosecutor, district attorney, state Attorney General, and U.S. Senator.

Harris also vowed that the new administration will ensure the passage of The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Doing so will restore the full protections of the original, bipartisan Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 2003, the Supreme Court all but gutted the original legislation, though Congress reauthorized the Act in 2006. Biden primarily spoke of his support for expanding the Affordable Care Act and working to save the environment.

Check out the Biden Agenda Here.

In choosing Harris, Biden has saved himself from a lot of scorn from a black community. Many have not forgotten the way he treated Professor Anita Hill during Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Or his support for mandatory minimum laws that that  ushered in a system of mass incarceration. Others point out his opposition to busing.

Biden apologized in 2019 for supporting mandatory minimums. Still Harris also took him to task, when she was a presidential candidate, for opposing busing. Biden was also criticized for acting surprised that Barack Obama was “articulate,” during Biden’s race for the nomination against Obama.

Biden’s choice of Harris is tantamount to offering an olive branch to the black community. But, more importantly, to black women, the backbone of the Democratic Party.

Kamala Harris to make historic run as VP candidate

However, not choosing a black woman was not an option for Biden. Hundreds of black women and men wrote letters and signed petitions urged him to pick a woman of color.

What they knew and what America knows in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the “unmasking” of racism in 2020, as the National Urban League’s State of Black America posits, has put America at a “crossroads,” NUL President Marc Morial said recently.  The recognition that the bill has come due for decades of racial and economic injustice was not lost on the black community.

WOMEN RAISE THEIR VOICES

Sisters Lead Sisters Vote penned and April letter, with over 1,000 signatures who were “writing to recommend and encourage” Biden. They urged him to “seize this moment in our country’s history, and its bold future,” by choosing a Black woman. Elected officials, clergy, and organizers were among the named signatories. Melanie Campbell, chairwoman of the organization, said she would be “extremely concerned,” if Biden does not choose a Black woman.

In May, several Black women in media and activism penned an op-ed in the Washington Post demanding that Biden choose a Black woman as his running mate. In the letter, they also specifically rejected Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar as a non-starter. After George Floyd’s killing and nationwide uprisings around the issue of racism in policing, Klobuchar withdrew her name from consideration. “Sen Klobuchar backed the idea of a Black woman on the ticket.,” Erinn Haines, the 19^th’s editor-in-chief wrote.

“For too long Black women have been asked to do everything from rally the troops to risk their lives for the Democratic Party with no acknowledgment, no respect, no visibility, and certainly not enough support,” the letter reads. The letter says the Black women who are under consideration to be Biden’s running mate have been “unfairly criticized and scrutinized,” and pointed to California Sen. Kamala Harris as an example, according to a CNN Report.

Two days before the announcement, more than 100 Black men signed an open letter, urging Biden to pick a Black woman.  They wrote that “failing to select a Black woman in 2020 means you will lose the election.,” according to The 19^th, an online non-profit news outlet.

SOCIAL MEDIA TROLLS

Before the Biden-Harris event was over, social media was full of people levying ridiculous criticisms against Harris. Some black people were denying her black roots (‘She’s not black’) , while others blame her for prosecuting black criminals. Some Asian-Americans of Indian descent are criticizing Harris for not promoting her mother’s roots, while others have called her too ambitious and aggressive.

Harris identifies as black. She attended Howard University, a historically black university, and she is a member of  Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Still, the day after the event, white pundits began leveling charges of Trump’s birtherism trope at Harris. They incredulously claim that she is neither an American nor an African-American. 

Naysayers aside, a multiracial group of film and television stars launched the #We’ve Got Her Back awareness campaign. They launched before Harris was chosen, to combat the vicious attacks they knew any Democratic VP woman selected would endure. Kerry Washington @kerrywashington, Julianne Moore @juliannemoore, Reese Witherspoon@reesewitherspoon , Debra Messing @debramessing, Amy Schumer @amyshumer, Sarah Paulson @sarahpaulson and more celebrities are now standing with Sen. Kamala Harris, according to The Los Angeles Times.

“Scandal” star Washington urged media to “do better” and actress Alyssa Milano called out the New York Times and this newspaper earlier this week for using sexist headlines on opinion pieces about the VP search.,” the LA Times reported.

The Biden Campaign has a list of plans that includes a black agenda. Check it out: https://joebiden.com/blackamerica/

For all other plans check them out here: https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/